Huawei case shows US twists laws at will

Editor’s note: At the behest of the United States, the Canadian authorities detained Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese telecom giant Huawei, while she was in transit at Vancouver airport on Dec 1. Calling for Meng’s release, China has urged the US and Canada to explain the case. What impact will the case have on China’s ties with the US and Canada? Two experts share their views on the issue with China Daily’s Liu Jianna. Excerpts follow:

Detention a big blow to Sino-US relations

There is no doubt the detention of Meng was planned much before the much-anticipated summit between the two countries’ leaders on Dec 1. Or, rather, like the China-US trade dispute, the incident is part of the US’ larger surgical-strike plan against some Chinese high-tech companies. So is the proscription on the sale of products by some US companies to Chinese chipmaker Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co.

The frequent targeting of Chinese high-tech companies signifies not only the US administration’s economic and trade policies, but also a big shift in the US’ overall China policy.

So the essential task now is to find ways to cut the losses and prevent the situation from worsening.

The radical changes in the economic environment mean Chinese enterprises, especially those in the 5G industry, should make comprehensive long-term preparations in the following areas. To begin with, they should make greater efforts to globalize their operations and corporate structure, because globalization is the lifeline of high-tech companies. Even Huawei, one of the most advanced and global Chinese companies, could fall foul of certain governments and should therefore take precautionary measures.

In addition, Chinese enterprises should extensively follow business and international rules. In a highly interdependent world, China cannot afford to disintegrate with the US or other countries. And abiding by international rules is essential to the success of Chinese companies in an increasingly intertwined world.

Besides, by following the market rules, Chinese companies can let the market play the leading role in their developments because malpractices, such as power-money exchange, and government subsidy and support, which may be common in some parts of China are destined to fail elsewhere.

Furthermore, that Canada has complied with the US to detain Meng shows that Western countries still have a common and binding understanding of basic values and rules, as well as similar political and social systems. The West acts as the most important basis for the US’ supremacy while Western countries such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand view the leading role of the US and the West-dominated world order as conducive to their interests. Under these circumstances, China should objectively analyze the international situation bearing in mind that its rise in the international community not only brings advantages and honor, but also entails lots of risks.

US using Meng case to make a deal

Meng’s detention, together with Washington’s actions vis-avis other international incidents and events including the death of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian journalist, reflects the US’ disrespect for both reason and international law. The US administration has again adopted an apparently pragmatic, but effectively self-serving, approach to international relations and rules — taking advantage of the ones that benefit it while rejecting those that impede its agendas, as can be seen in extending its laws’ reach to beyond borders in the Meng case.

Caught in the middle of building a new world order, every other country including the US’ allies recognize its wrongs. Yet they can do nothing about it.

Washington is using the Meng case to put more pressure on China and increase the US’ leverage in the ongoing trade negotiations. In the remaining days before the deadline of 90 days expires, China should focus on the negotiations and avoid being distracted by such incidents staged by the US. The recently gained momentum in the trade talks should not be derailed, although the US is likely to create more troubles to realize its goal.

The US’ somewhat rogue behavior has sparked anger among some Chinese netizens, with some of them giving a call to boycott US brands represented by Apple and Qualcomm. However, we should realize that China is not at the same economic and technologically advanced level as the US.

More important, in this increasingly interdependent world it is neither reasonable nor practical to disintegrate with the US. Yet the China-US trade conflict has taught us a lesson: that it is extremely important to develop core technologies. And for that to happen, the government and enterprises both have to greatly increase their investments in technology research and development.

Chen Fengying, a researcher in global economy at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations

The frequent targeting of Chinese high-tech companies signifies not only the US administration’s economic and trade policies, but also a big shift in the US’ overall China policy ... The recently gained momentum in the trade talks should not be derailed, although the US is likely to create more troubles to realize its goal.